More Than Just a Dream
by ddtje70
Summary: After a big fight with Jackie one night, Eric wakes up the next morning and things are completely different. What is happening? The story begins after S4 E23 Hyde's Birthday and picks up from there.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello all! I'm thrilled that life has allowed me the time to be able to begin writing again. To anyone who has reviewed, followed, or put either of my other stories I thank you so much. To anyone waiting for the next part of A Point Place Production, don't be afraid of this! I thought of the concept for this story the other day and had to write it down, as I was very excited of its potential. I will be going back to APPP very soon. For now, I hope you all give this a chance and enjoy it. Thank you all so much for reading! I really do appreciate it.**

**More Than Just a Dream**

**Chapter 1**

Jackie Burkhart stood in the Forman driveway contemplating the events of the past few weeks for her and the rest of the group. While Donna was beginning to date again with one Kelso, she wasn't sure what was happening with the other. It seemed like all was forgiven for the kiss she shared with her cheese boss a few weeks back, but Michael kept dropping little hints that everything wasn't as resolved as she originally thought. She hadn't heard from him in a couple of days which was strange since a day hadn't passed when they were together that he didn't bother her about "doing it." Her suspicions that he was here was confirmed when she saw his van in the driveway. _How could he do this to me? I'm Jackie Burkhart! I shouldn't have to go looking for him! _ With a heavy sigh, she made her way down the stairs and opened the door to the basement.

When she opened the door, the first thing she heard was "There you have it Forman. I just kicked your ass at another game of Risk. It's only a matter of time before this becomes true and I rule the world. Then the government will be forced to show me that car that runs on water!" oh, it was just Hyde taking his victory lap. She was bothered now that nobody was looking up acknowledging her presence.

Jackie cleared her throat and spoke. "Um, hello? Yeah, I know that you think whatever you were talking about was interesting. But, the thing about it is that it really isn't."

"Oh, much like yourself! We don't think you're interesting even though you think you are." Eric piped up with a smirk.

"Yeah, well it seems like I just walked in to the sight of you being a loser, as usual!" she snapped back.

She then turned her attention to Kelso, hitting him in the chest, "Michael! Where have you been? I've been at home all by myself today waiting for you. You should know that there are only so many ways to admire how pretty I am!"

"So you're saying Jackie is that you were with all your friends earlier." Eric was awarded with Jackie's glare for the comment.

She then stood waiting for Kelso's explanation. "But Jackie, there were cannons…and guns…and army men…and…"

"But they are only plastic game pieces. They aren't even real. I can't believe you left me at home to watch these two play their stupid game?"

"But I didn't just watch Jackie. I played too!" Kelso said in defense.

Hyde smirked "Yeah, Foreman and I teamed up and he was out after the first few turns."

Jackie hit Kelso again. "Thanks a lot Michael! Now let's go to The Hub because I'm hungry!" she took Kelso by the hand, guiding him towards the door.

Eric and Hyde then stood up and went to follow the pair out the door when Jackie stopped in her tracks and turned to face them. "Excuse you guys, don't just assume you're invited."

Kelso tapped her shoulder. "Uh, but Jackie, they are invited!"

"Michael! I'm feeling too pretty today to be seen in public with these two losers!"

Eric looked over at his zen friend who was utilizing such practices at the moment, so he figured he better speak. "Yeah, well this loser lets you in his basement all the time even though you're the most single annoying, self-centered, little…"

Hyde cut him off. "C'mon Forman, relax! Kelso said we were invited anyway. Let's just go." With a heavy sigh, Eric just agreed and followed the others out the door.

_In Kelso's van…_

Jackie seemed to be glaring at Eric through the rear view mirror as they made their way down the street. "Aw, what's wrong Jackie? Did we ruin your little plans of having Kelso telling you how pretty you are so he might have a slight chance of doing it? I believe they call that teasing!"

"Well at least I'm not a skinny, twitchy, geeky…"

"Most eligible Viking?"

"Eligible for what? The award for putting together the most model spaceships and Lego sets in a given year?"

Eric was getting tired of all the insult trading, so he decided to go with the one that he knew would hurt most. "Yeah, well, you're not pretty!"

"Like anyone would believe that Forman! All of Point Place knows that I'm the prettiest…"

"You are not!"

"I am too!"

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

Hyde and Kelso shared a look, and Kelso proceeded to pull his van over. "All right, I need all the chicks in here to exit the van!"

Jackie glared at the driver. "But, Michael!"

Eric grinned. "See, I win!"

Hyde then seemed to understand what Kelso meant better. "I think what Kelso meant here is all chicks or anyone that's acting like one has to get out. Unfortunately for yourself Forman, that means you too!"

Kelso nodded in agreement. "Look you guys, Fez might be at The Hub with Big Rhonda, and you know how he gets when he sees his friends fight. It hurts his feelings, and we can't let Fez become a mess while he's out on a date."

Hyde laughed. "So if you guys care about Fez at all, there's the door!"

Eric just opened the door. "Well after this ride from hell I feel like going for a walk anyways! So for Fez's sake, I'll see you guys later." He exited the van.

Jackie smiled. "Well, let's go boys!"

Kelso shook his head. "I don't think so. You know what Jackie? I haven't called you in a couple of days because I think I'm still mad at you for the cheese guy thing. I think I just need some space right now to think."

Jackie was starting to well up. "So Michael, what are you saying?"

"I'm just saying let Hyde and I go eat at The Hub right now!"

She opened the door as to not give him the satisfaction of letting him see how much this conversation was affecting her. "Fine!" she slammed the door and the van was off.

Once Jackie was on the street, she saw Eric walking a few feet ahead and ran to catch up. "Eric, wait up! I need to talk to you"

All she got in response was a skinny scowl followed by. "Well the last thing I want to do right now is talk to you!"

"But I really need some advice right now and…"

"You need advice? Go find Donna! Oh, that's right, she's out with that idiot Casey who you seemed dead set on setting her up with for some reason."

"Yeah, only because you were starting to date again, just like you said in the van, Most Eligible Viking! Look, will you please listen to me? Michael…"

Eric cut her off with an eye roll. "Yeah, Kelso is still mad at you for the cheese guy thing. But I already tried to be nice to you when that happened and what a surprise, that whole thing blew up in my face thanks to you! So go find someone else for advice because I'm done with it!" he began to storm off.

Tears started rolling down her face as she chased after him. "Eric, please talk to me! I need a friend…"

Eric just laughed in her face. "Yep, same ol' Jackie Burkhart here! She only comes to me when she needs something! The rest of the time I'm just the skinny loser whose basement she hangs out in all the time!"

"If that's the way you feel Eric, then…"

"You know what? I'm not done! When have you ever done anything for me? I've listened to about every problem that comes up with Kelso, I stood up for you with Laurie, and I was the first person you confided in during your pregnancy scare! I've never asked for anything in return from you. Even just a couple of weeks ago, you could have helped me out with your friend Leslie and…"

"Eric, the only thing she was interested in was your dad's corvette. She's a cheerleader and you should know that cheerleaders aren't even in your league, except for…"

Eric scoffed in response. "Not in MY league? Yeah because their league just consists of arrogant, condescending, spoiled brats such as yourself! In that case I don't even want to even be associated with…"

Jackie was starting to lose it as she started to sob "Fine, so don't be! I'm going home!" she stormed off past him.

Eric rolled his eyes as he couldn't help but feel sorry despite the event which led to this point. "J-J-Jackie!" he called out.

She turned around for a moment. "Don't bother! I can see where I'm not wanted Eric!" she turned back around and ran off.

Eric sighed heavily as he started his way back home.

_A couple hours later…_

As Eric got ready for bed, he wasn't particularly proud of the events of the day. He was greeted with the image of Casey dropping Donna off when he got to the driveway, witnessing the good night kiss and everything. That was the punch to the gut to finish him off today. He didn't know what he felt worse about. The fact that the rest of the group didn't return to the basement after The Hub, the gross image of his ex making out with that moron, or everything that transpired with him and Jackie.

It seemed like Jackie was winning in the regret department at the moment. It was quite an amazing quality she possessed to make you want to see her go away one second to making you feel awful for ever having a thought like that the next. _ Oh well. I'll get some sleep and I'll take care of it in the morning. _ That was his last thought as sleep began to overtake him.

_Eight hours later…_

The alarm clock went off and Eric hit the snooze button for a moment, wanting a few minutes longer before getting ready for school. He then heard a voice down the hall. "Eric, are you awake?"

"I'll be down in a minute mom!" Eric then opened his eyes for the first time and they nearly bugged out of his head when he realized what he was seeing. First off, this wasn't his bed, it was a double bed. _ Who the heck else slept here last night? _He also looked around the room and saw it was much bigger than he was used to, but the room still looked vaguely familiar. _ Am I in my parents' room? Oh no, Red is going to kill me. _That thought caused him to jump out of bed and immediately was greeted by the images of a couple of posters he had never seen before. _ The Empire Strikes Back? Return of the Jedi? He'd never seen these posters before! The thought of there being multiple sequels to Star Wars made him giddy. _

Suddenly, a voice calling from downstairs snapped his train of thought. "Eric, Steven is already down here eating the bacon and eggs, get down here before they get cold!"

"I said I'm coming mom!" _This is my parents' room! But, there's no way Red would have Star Wars posters in his room. What is going on?_ He took the bathrobe hanging on the hooks on the bedroom door and put it on. As he put it on, he then noticed something else. _ Are those unicorns on the dresser?_ He shrugged and left the room to go downstairs.

He couldn't even begin to describe what he saw in the living room. _This is definitely my house, but when did mom and dad have the time to do all this?_

As he opened the door to the kitchen and went through, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the scene in front of him.

A boy somewhere around elementary school age got up from the kitchen with a smile on his face ear to ear. "Daddy!" he exclaimed while running to and hugging Eric. The boy looked at Eric and laughed at him. "Daddy is that what you're wearing to school?"

A stunned Eric spoke nervously. "School? Why…why…would I be going to school?"

A woman in a power suit walked into the kitchen. "'Cause you teach at the school you geek! Oh, and good morning to you too." She remarked while giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And Steven, what did I tell you about leaving the table in the middle of breakfast?"

When his son Steven let go of him and went back to his breakfast, he was able to identify who just kissed him. "Oh, good morning…J-Jackie?"

Jackie just laughed in response. "Last time I checked, that's still my name! Now this is all very funny with the bathrobe and all, but you guys will be late if you're not out the door in ten minutes!"

"I guess I better get changed then!" with that, Eric disappeared through the door back to the living room, leaving apparently his wife and son laughing at him.

When he got to the living room, he made a shot at the front door and found the day's newspaper on the doorstep and opened it to look at the date: May 26, 1988. He thought he was going to faint. _ This has got to be a dream!_


	2. Chapter 2

**More Than Just a Dream**

**Chapter 2**

After reading the date on the newspaper, Eric frantically ran upstairs and shut the door to his room behind him. Unfortunately, the room he entered was his room ten years ago. He was looking around in awe of all the cool stuff in now what was apparently his son's room. He saw Luke and Darth Vader looking like they were about to battle, and he had Leia and Han Solo sitting closely together. This confused Eric as he thought for sure that Luke would be with Leia as the series continued. _I guess little Steven here sees things differently. _He thought to himself. Then he looked around farther and found something called Thundercats that Steven apparently liked and a goofy looking doll in a grey trench coat named Inspector Gadget. After momentarily examining the doll, he realized he was standing on something called the Power Pad.

His curiosity was peaked as he looked at where he was standing on the floor and the machine in front to the television which matched one of the names of whatever he was standing on as he said the name aloud "Nintendo."

He shrugged and found the power switch to the newly discovered device and turned on the TV with it. The game in the machine was Athletic World which caused Eric to cringe a bit. _It just has to have the title start with athletic, doesn't it? _Once the game started up and he hit start, he could see that he would be running hurdles using the pad. He then started running in place and jumping when needed and he hadn't missed a hurdle yet. _Who says I'm not an athlete?_

However, he must have not been very quiet while discovering this brilliant form of entertainment as a voice spoke from the doorway. "Look, I know that Steven kicked your ass in this last night, but now really isn't the time to practice!" Jackie said with a smirk.

Eric frowned. "But it's so…so...fun!" He proclaimed with a whimper.

This just prompted a laugh and a shake of the head. "I swear I sometimes forget who the child really is in this house! Now let's turn the Nintendo off and go to our jobs so we can continue to live in this house and play all the Nintendo we want with our son once we finish working."

Eric sighed. "Fine, I'm sorry. I just forgot that this wasn't…"

Another laugh came. "In the words of your father, what a dumbass! This hasn't been your room for seven years! I have no idea what is up with you this morning."

Eric shrugged. "Not enough sleep I guess."

"Well go get dressed. You're going to be late so I guess I'll have to drive Steven to school this morning on my way to the station. I hope you're feeling better when I get home later. I'm looking forward to your big Nintendo rematch with Steven." She walked up to her husband and gave him a quick kiss goodbye. "I'll see you tonight."

_What should I say here? _"Uh…bye honey, have a nice day!" he replied and found his way back to his own room, or Jackie and his room now.

_Well this seems really strange. I had this huge fight with Jackie last night, and I wake up ten years in the future married to and have a son with the very same person and …oh my, what the hell is this?_ Eric's eyes grew wide at the sight of his wedding picture. The first one was of Jackie and him in front of the church, and the second one was of the whole wedding party. He saw Hyde, Kelso, Fez, and another guy with longer hair on his side. Then there were Donna, Laurie (_What the hell?)_, Brooke, _(Again, what the hell? Who was friendly with her in the group?)_ and an unrecognizable blonde woman on Jackie's side. There was also a picture of Red, Kitty, and Pam Burkhart outside the church as well. _ Wow, Pam Burkhart is my mother in-law? All right! _

His thought process was interrupted by the phone ringing. It was the principal down at Point Place Elementary. Eric put on his best sick voice as the school sent a substitute teacher in his place. _ There's so much to process right here alone. How could I possibly do a job today when I don't even know what it is? _

_A few minutes later…_

With that done, Eric decided to take a shower and brought the radio with him in order to have some form of entertainment while showering. He turned the radio to the Madison rock station as he hopped in and turned on the water. He nearly slipped when he heard the voice that came on the radio next.

"Good morning Madison! This is hot Donna coming at you on this awesome day! I was just feeling a little reminiscent this morning, so I'd like to dedicate this next song to five very special friends of mine. Even though most of us are apart right now, I still think about what a long, strange trip it's been. Here's a blast from the past with The Grateful Dead." The song _Truckin'_ came on the radio.

Eric smiled to himself. _Well, it's great to hear that Donna is still doing well. Who would have known that the Hot Donna thing would stick? She must be living somewhere near Madison since that's a bit of a drive from here in Point Place. We all must be on good terms since she dedicated this song to us._ He felt pretty good about things as he finished his shower.

After finishing up and getting dressed, Eric's curiosity had gotten the better of him once again. _I'm ten years in the future; I have no idea what I'm doing here or how to get back. If I want to learn one thing about the future, what would it be? _ His eyes lay right on _The Empire Strikes Back_ poster that was right in his room. On the other side of the room there was a poster of some show called _Miami Vice _with some guy wearing a white sport jacket over a black t-shirt with slick dirty blonde hair while sitting in a Ferrari. _Well, Jackie still likes the beautiful things even here in the future! _ He shook his head with a chuckle as he went downstairs and tried to find his way to get his hands on the Star Wars sequel.

He looked all around the living room and saw no signs of a video of the movie so he went to the kitchen and got the yellow pages out and he overshot the movies section and he landed in music instead. He looked down at the picture and once again saw an image that he didn't expect to see. _Wow, there's Hyde! _It seemed like an ad for some king of music store named Grooves. There were locations listed not only all over Wisconsin, but there seemed to be stores located in Detroit and Chicago as well. Another smile crossed Eric's face. _Well, there's one more that's doing well for himself!_ He then turned in the phone book and found the phone number to the local video rental store.

_A couple hours later…_

The credits for _The Empire Strikes Back _rolled and Eric sat there on the couch with his mouth agape. _ Wow, the Jedi really had it handed to them in that one! I never saw Luke and Leia being brother and sister coming! I guess that's why the third one is called…_

Eric's thought was interrupted by the swinging open of the glass door to the kitchen followed by a voice calling "Eric, I'm home!" Jackie opened the door to the living room and crossed her arms at the sight in front of her. "Sweetie, did you ditch work again to stay home and watch Star Wars?"

"Uh…yeah! I mean, why do they invent sick days anyway?"

"They invent sick days for when you're really sick!"

"Yeah, but…wait, why are you here? Did you cut out of work early too?"

"I asked to leave after lunch since it was a slow news day and I didn't have an assignment." She then walked over to the couch and plopped herself down next to him. "Plus, I was concerned when I saw that you weren't really yourself this morning, so I wanted to make sure you were okay." He then cuddled into him.

_Wow, how sweet and thoughtful. Is this the same Jackie I fought with yester…um…ten years ago?_ Eric let out a satisfactory sigh.

Jackie lifted her head from her husband's chest as an idea popped into her mind. "You know, Steven has baseball practice right after school."

_My son plays sports. Well that's obviously not from me!_

Jackie continued. "Also, it's Mrs. Jenkins' turn in the carpool so we have the house all to ourselves for the next couple of hours." She arched her eyebrows mischievously. "You know what that means." She got up and reached out her hand in order for him to take it.

The next second, they were running up the stairs just like he had seen his parents run up the same set of stairs numerous times in the past. _Should I even be doing this? I mean, she's really going to know that something's wrong here when this doesn't go as…_Before Eric could complete the thought, Jackie surprised him by blowing right by their room and making their way into Steven's room. She reached for a game called Super Mario Brothers and put it in the Nintendo and turned the power on. She clapped her hands together before proclaiming "I call Mario because he's less ugly!"

Eric couldn't believe the world that he saw unfold in front of him complete with plumbers, mushrooms, flowers, fireballs, turtles, turtle shells, this was too good to be true! "Man it's too bad they didn't have this back in the circle days."

Jackie laughed at this thought. "Keep that up and I won't allow you in any circles anymore. You know we've done that plenty of times before, especially when we have visitors." 

"I'm guessing not so much when Red and Kitty visit, huh."

She laughed even harder at his last statement. "What is with you today Eric? We know better than that. Besides, they're still critical of our decision to keep the basement the way it is. It's not that bad though. I'm glad they're happy in Florida."

Eric grinned. "I bet Red gets mad when he has to visit because it takes away from his fishing time."

"Yeah, but you know how excited your mom gets when she comes back."

"Yeah, it's just too bad we're all far apart. My mom must miss seeing all of us on a regular basis."

Jackie gave him a strange look. "It's been years since then. As much as we all miss those days, we all have moved on as well. I'm just glad things with us ended up the way they did." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Unfortunately, the kiss caused Eric to drop his controller and poor Luigi missed his jump and Eric lost his turn. He rolled his eyes "No fair, you cheated!" he just got laughed at in response.

A bout an hour later a figure appeared at the door. "Are you two playing Nintendo in my room again? Now you know why I asked for a lock to my room for my birthday."

Jackie shot back. "We told you already that's not safe! Now I guess I have to start on dinner."

Steven shook his head. "Don't bother! I already called the pizza guy and used a deep voice. I knew you guys were going to do this when I heard about you dad."

_Apparently this happens often._ Eric laughed to himself. "Hey when you're sick, you're sick."

Jackie got up to start downstairs. "Nice example to set dad!"

"Hey dad, are you ready for me to kick your butt again at the power pad game tonight."

Eric put his arm around his son and let him in on some news. "Not so fast, little one. It just so happens that I practiced this morning." They argued while leaving the room to go get dinner.

_Later that night…_

Steven had fallen asleep after kicking his dad's butt once again at the Nintendo game. His mom and dad were just settling down to do the same thing.

"Man, I think I have to take up jogging in order to actually have a chance at beating him."

"Eric, you'll never beat him at that! All the years I've known you and I can safely say the last thing you'll ever be is an athlete. But for some reason, I still love you anyway." Jackie said while nuzzling into him.

_Gee, this isn't so bad. A wife that loves me for some reason, a kid that can kick my ass at any video game or athletic feat, and all my family and friends seem to be happy. I think I'll be okay if I don't get back. Although I still really want to know one thing._ "Jackie?"

"Yeah?" she asked groggily.

"I was just thinking about the first time we fell in love."

She smiled up at him. "You were?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering how you remembered everything. Think of it as a happy bedtime story."

"Well, it all started the day after we had that huge fight when we got kicked out of Michael's van, when…" Eric didn't hear anything after that as sleep overtook him.

_When he woke up…_

Eric was awakened to the sight of his old room with everything back where it used to be. The door to his room was suddenly opened and there stood Red before him.

"Rise and shine, dumbass! You've got a lot to do today. I heard you and the loud one were fighting again last night and got everyone else upset at the two of you for annoying them. Now the both of you are going to fix it since your mother is all mad that nobody is around. But first, the back yard isn't going to gut itself." He then exited, slamming the door behind him.

Eric put his palm to his face. _Man, this is going to be a long day._


End file.
